Silverhill honors police officer with lifesaver award

SILVERHILL — A Silverhill police officer was honored as a hero on Monday, Dec. 20 for saving the life of a resident in October.
Mayor Jared Lyles and Police Chief Kenneth Hempfleng presented Officer Juanita Odom with a life-saving pin during the council’s workshop meeting on Dec. 20.
According to a statement read by Lyles, on Oct. 30, Odom responded to a call for a welfare check on South Avenue where she discovered a woman with a cord wrapped around her neck and not breathing.
Odom was able to remove the cord and was able to place the woman in a position where her breathing resumed. She then stayed with the woman until EMS personnel arrived on the scene.
The woman was transported to a local hospital where she was able to make a full recovery.

“Officer Odom is a fine officer and works hard,” Hempfleng said. “She takes her job very seriously. She took her job seriously that day and was able to save a person’s life. She is an asset, not only to the Silverhill Police Department, but to the entire town of Silverhill.”
Odom said she was fortunate to be in a position to make a difference.
“That’s not the type of call you want to respond to,” she said, “but I’m glad I was able to put myself in a position to make something good happen.”
Each year, District Attorney Robert Wilters organizes an Officer of the Year program through the Perdido Bay Optimist Club, and Hempfleng said he plans to nominate Odom for the award.
In other business Dec. 20, the council voted on a pair of actions to place a new water tower on property the town owns located west of Silverhill.
Lyles said the town is planning to apply for a federal Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant for the project, with an estimated cost of $4.3 million to install a 250,000-gallon water tower on the property, located on the corner of County Road 49 and Alabama 104.
The town purchased the 7.2-acre property last year, expressing interest in placing a water tower and possibly a fire station on the property.
The town received one bid each for grant writing and engineering for the water tower project, voting to award the grant writing bid to Sara Byard and the engineering bid to Civil Southeast.
The council also voted Dec. 20 to purchase water meter conversion software from United Systems in the amount of $24,400.